Race Report: First Run 2016

My absolute favorite part of this race is getting to see almost all of the Burlington running community out and about on New Years Day when everyone is full of hope for the coming year of running. I got to visit with a bunch of people who were instrumental in me getting serious about running when I first moved back and connect with other area runners that I don’t see enough of with my crazy schedule.

As mentioned above, I also got a chance to work on building race experience ten hours into the New Year. Due to the overwhelming popularity of First Run this year, 700 runners showed up and bib pickup was a little crowded so there was a start delay of 15 minutes (I’m sensing a theme). However, I had anticipated this AND they announced it early and often and instead of letting it rattle me, I just did a second warm-up and set of striders (Lesson 1). It was only about 36 degrees at the start so I was a little chilly in shorts but took it out patiently (Lesson 2) until my legs felt nice and smooth.

Unlike last year where I was in about 10th for women at the half mile mark, I had passed the only woman ahead of me by then and just worked on putting as much space as I could ahead of Christine because I knew she could absolutely kick my a** if it came down to a kick. I went through the mile in a comfortable 6:01 and starting working the challenge that is Mile 2 of this course. Although I felt a little clunky for the first couple of minutes, I felt downright smooth and strong going into Mile 2. I tried not to fight the hill and just worked on picking men off as I went. When I passed Erin just before the 2 Mile mark, she told me there was no woman in site so I was able to mentally relax a bit, which was great timing because the 5K I’m going to vomit feeling was settling in. I went through Mile 2 in 6:12. (For comparison, last year I went through 1 in 6:10 and 2 in 6:30, so I slowed down a lot less this year.)

Once we crested the hill, I tried to get control of my breathing and take advantage of the downhill. I still felt smooth but was definitely aware that I haven’t done any frank speed work in a while and struggling to keep my turnover nice and snappy. Once I turned onto South Union for the last 3/4 of a mile straightaway, I tried to convince myself to pick it up but wasn’t overwhelmingly successful at this. I went through mile 3 in 5:53 and knew I would break 19 so just tried to convince myself to keep kicking through the finish. I broke the tape at 18:47 and called it good.

I’m always blown away by how gutting the second half of a 5K is and although I’m totally thrilled with my race today, I am frustrated that I wasn’t particularly motivated to kick the last kilometer of the race. I’m sure some of this was that I wasn’t under direct threat from another woman and some was that I haven’t done much real speed work, but I still want to work on the mental approach to kicking regardless of the surrounding situation. That being said, I’m really psyched that I handled the start delay and the colder temperatures well.

What was your first run of the year? Do you like to race or run or just recover from New Years Eve on the couch?